Protect Our Rivers

header blog

About Us

Katherine Baer

Senior Director, Clean Water and Water Supply Programs

conservation

Area of Focus

Katherine leads federal clean water policy work to reduce sewage spills and polluted stormwater runoff and to increase green infrastructure.

Background

Katherine joined American Rivers in 2005. Prior to that she worked as a policy analyst for the legal think tank the Center for Progressive Reform, and as Director of Headwaters Conservation for the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper in Georgia.

Education

B.A. in Environmental Studies from Stanford University, M.S. in Conservation Ecology from the University of Georgia, and J.D. from the University of Maryland

Blog Posts By This Author

Standing with Barbara Deutsch on the green roof at Casey Trees here in Washington, DC, I had my ah-ha moment. Now, Gary has done a great job of explaining what a green roof is and how it works, but I needed to experience one for myself. So we went on a… Read more »

I know that global warming is big and bad and will reshape our world – but for me, it really becomes tangible when I can understand how it will affect specific places. As Gary wrote last week, the Great Lakes are one of those places where we work and t… Read more »

I was listening to the hearing on the Clean Water Restoration Act in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee the other day – and what struck me was how little streams have so many powerful groups (and politicians) running scared! The legislat… Read more »

Instead of plodding through D.C.’s slushy streets one weekend back in December, I was happily swimming in Austin’s Barton Springs during a trip with my sister, Rachel. Swimming outside in December is a rarity, but as a spring fed pool the water there s… Read more »

I was folding laundry and listening to one of the Presidential debates the other night – not listening too closely as the candidates were mostly squabbling. Suddenly, I heard one of them say “green infrastructure” and then another said “green jobs.” I… Read more »

Buffers, wetlands, and green roofs, hooray! Green infrastructure, the use of soil and plants to filter and treat water on-site, is really catching on. This includes preserving natural landscape features like streamside buffer zones as well as well as r… Read more »

American Rivers listed the Iowa River on our America’s Most Endangered River list for 2007 (see video below). I was fortunate to be the river liaison for that river and had the chance to learn more about Iowa’s great rivers from our partners at the Iow… Read more »

In his capacity as Director of American Rivers’ Hydropower Reform Campaign John Seebach has a great perspective on how an underappreciated section of the Clean Water Act has had big results. As a continuation of our series celebrating the Clean W… Read more »

I met Gina Salazar from Thornton, Colorado at our recent River Action Day. You can see from her story, as part of our Clean Water series, that she has a passion for rivers that runs deep. — The invitation to join advocates from around the country to a… Read more »

Do you ever dream about your work? Hopefully not, but as this story, the second in our series celebrating the Clean Water Act, by American Rivers’ Senior Director for Development Robbin Marks shows, sometimes it’s important to get a good ni… Read more »